This is my first Tana French book, but it certainly won't be the last. Really well written Murder-Mystery that has everything you could want from a book. Great characters with a lot of emotional depth and interesting exploration into the human condition. Love this book!

A major plus is that the narrator was great. Great accents, acting, etc...

This reader is perfect. He absolutely inhabits the main character/narrator, but he is so convincing In the other voices that at times I forgot it it wasn't a cast of readers. He broke through the line between reading and reality and put you right there.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Made sense. The various tales that make up the whole move inexorably toward resolution, some some tragic, some depressing, some kind.

Which character – as performed by Stephen Hogan – was your favorite?

Kennedy

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, way too long, and intense.

Any additional comments?

The book moves slowly, and at times I was impatient, but the reader was so excellent, I was happy to hang in there just to keep hearing his voice.

Tana French makes you want to get inside each and every character and think/feel as they do. You want to believe each one but are constantly led to realize their weaknesses and flaws, and must try relying on the judgment and opinion of the next in turn. I am always happy to be pulled along by her narratives.

Which character – as performed by Stephen Hogan – was your favorite?

The narrator of course - as it was told through his voice consistently

Not likely. Hero was full of cant and self-absorption, homilies pouring out about how smart or good he was, overladen with a quite conservative social point of view. The most interesting and well portrayed character was his crazy daughter; she sprang to life when entering the scene.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Remarkably, there was no "ending." The fanciful murders and holes in the walls were never really explained, frustrating a long wait for a resolution

How could the performance have been better?

The partner assigned to the hero was given a more heavy Irish accent that often drifted into a mumble and I had to guess at what was being said, even after replaying

Wonderful story, excellent narrator. Author and narrator combine to provide a thoughtful, introspective mystery. Not so much the what happened but more importantly the whys of what happened. Finely developed.

Seriously, I thought the author would eventually reveal that this family (and all of Broken Harbor for that matter) was poisoned by lead plumbing, what with all the mental health issues and shoddy construction.

As I listened to the first two-thirds of the book I kept telling my husband this was one he shouldn't miss. I found the story and setting fascinating. I laughed at the bursts of levity that popped through. I loved the sidekick.

Alas, in the end I was just getting through a tedious resolution. In summary: a great story with an excess of psychiatric patients.